The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises says that two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute hunger are concentrated in just 10 countries, including Nigeria.
The report from the Global Network Against Food Crises further revealed that acute food insecurity remains highly concentrated in the 10 countries namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen and that there account for two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute hunger.
The major international report also disclosed that 266 million people across 47 countries experienced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025.
This figures, which were released by an alliance of UN agencies, the EU, and partners, showed that nearly a quarter of the population was analysed and almost double the share recorded in 2016.
According to the report, conflict remains the primary driver, accounting for more than half of all people facing severe hunger.
“Acute food insecurity today is not just widespread – it is also persistent and recurring,” UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu, said.
Qu warned that the crisis has become structural rather than temporary.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who wrote the foreword of the report, said: “This report is a call to action” “to summon the political will to rapidly scale up investment in lifesaving aid, and work to end the conflicts that inflict so much suffering on so many.”
The report also highlights more than 39 million people in 32 countries faced emergency levels of food insecurity, while the number of people experiencing catastrophic hunger has increased nine fold since 2016.
The report says children are among the most affected as 35.5 million children were acutely malnourished, including nearly 10 million suffered from severe acute malnutrition in 2025.
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Ricardo Pires warned: “Children with severe wasting are too thin for their height.
“Their immune systems weakened to the extent that ordinary childhood illnesses can become fatal.”
The report warns that forced displacement is compounding the crisis.
More than 85 million people were displaced across food-crisis contexts in 2025, with displaced populations consistently facing higher levels of hunger than host communities.
“Forced displacement and food insecurity are deeply interconnected, forming a vicious cycle,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih, warned.
Salih warned that humanitarian aid alone is not enough to break the pattern.
In spite of the scale of the crisis, the report warns that funding is moving in the opposite direction.
GIK/APA